Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl wants a clinical and concentrated performance from his team over the full 90 minutes against West Brom on Sunday.
Saints got their Premier League campaign up and running with a hard-earned 1-0 win at Burnley last weekend, having suffered defeats in their previous two league fixtures.
The Baggies, meanwhile, head to St Mary’s Stadium with a first point on the board since promotion after a 3-3 draw against Chelsea – a match in which they led 3-0 at half-time.
Having seen Southampton fail to make the most of their own opportunities at Crystal Palace and then at home to Tottenham, where they had taken the lead only to lose 5-2, Hasenhuttl is expecting a fully focused display for Sunday’s noon kick-off.
“To win at home we must be very good in possession and clinical, and against the ball be very concentrated and do not give goals easily away,” the Southampton boss said.
“(Doing this over) 45 minutes are not enough – we have seen that against Tottenham. When you are one up, it can easily turn in a different direction.
“You need more than this and hopefully we will get more on the weekend, more quality for a longer time.
“In both games (which Southampton lost) we conceded easy goals – and this is something we must stop as quickly as possible.”
Hasenhuttl added: “Last week (at Burnley) we made a first step to be more organised.
“I always speak about needing to work on this part of our game, and if you don’t have time to work then it is very difficult to develop your game.
“Every game in the Premier League is tough, so we concentrate on this game, and then we have the international break when a lot of players are gone again, so it is definitely not easy to work on anything in the next two weeks.
“We have used this time to train as much as possible and hopefully we get a good result on the weekend.”
West Brom were moments away from beating Chelsea, before Tammy Abraham knocked in a last-minute equaliser.
Despite the manner of their second-half capitulation as Chelsea stepped things up a gear, Hasenhuttl maintains there can be no complacency against Slaven Bilic’s men.
“If you know our players and us as a staff, then you know we are really serious about everyone we play,” the Southampton manager said.
“There is no reason to be (complacent) with our home record last season. We were definitely not the best in our own ground, so we must show up now.
“We had some good games at the end of last season, we performed quite well, won against Manchester City and Sheffield (United) as well.”
Hasenhuttl is expecting a stern examination from West Brom, who had made the most of their opportunities to go 3-0 up against Chelsea inside the opening 27 minutes, with Callum Robinson scoring twice.
“It has surprised me a bit they have had so many goals (against),” said Hasenhuttl. “I know they have a good counter-attack and a good transition, but they are always organised in their defence.
“I think against Chelsea in the end they struggled a little bit, but it’s a difficult side they play against who will create chances, and in the end they lost two points.”
